Wood-distilling apparatus.



R. W. HILTON.

WOOD DISTILLING APPARATUS.

2 1 9 l wf.. .2 b. 8 F d 8 lo n e LIU n@ P QM O g Zy 2 N. A J D E u F .No I T A w L. P D.. A

SSHEBTS--SHBE'I' 1.

' Summa/gr,

ro soul/R R. W. HILTON. WOOD DISTILLING APPARATUS.

APIPLIOATION FILED JAN. z'zX 1909,

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 24 guna/nto@ .R. W. HILTON.

WOD DISTILLING APPARATUS.

APyLIoATIoN FILED @11.22, 1909.

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.V

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. i wvwrntofo ROBERT W. HIIJTONfOF SME'I'HPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

WOOD-DISTILLING APPARATUS.

Spec'ication of Letters iatent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

Application liled January 22, 1909. Serial No. 473,684.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, Rom-:RT W. .Hnnom citizen of the United States,res1d1ng at Smethport, in the county o f McKean and Y State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new andy useful Improvements inlood- Distilling Apparatus, of which the follo-wing is a speciication.

jThis invention relates to distilling appa ratus and more particularlyto -a peculiar form of still and to means'designed to secure:

important advantages in the application of heat tothe still, the primaryobject of the invention being to provide means whereby valcoholdistilling pla on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a secthe otherwisewasted heatfrom a retort.

furnace, such as is used for the dry distillation'of wood in themanufacture of Apyroligneous acid, may be utilized as one means forheatin the stilll lin which said pyroligneous acid after beingneutralized is distilled.

' A` further object is to provide means Awhereby the heated products ofcombustion from said furnace may-be directed, either intointimate'contact with the walls of the still, or may be more or lessdirected into the stack without coming in contact with the still walls.-

A further object is to provide means whereby the liquid to be treatedmay be preheated before it enters the still, and also' to provide meanswhereby steam may be intro duced into the interior of the'still toassist lin heating the liquid therein.

My inventionis shown in the accompanyindrawings wherein.:

igure 1 is a ,top plan view of a -woodl n Fig. 2 is a section tion onthe line 3-3 Vof Fig. 1. Fig. elisa .section on the line 4 4 ofFig. 1.Fig. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section of a portion of the distillingplant shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a erspective view of one of the stills.Fig. 7 1s a like view 4o one of the stills, the steam pipes entering thesame and passin between the legs of the same being removeCorrespondingand like parts are' referred to in the followingdescriptionand indicated 60v in all'theviews ofthe drawings by the samereference characters. In order that my invention may be underi stood, itis necessary to refer briefly to the bein borne in mind, however, thatmy invention is not limited to the' production of Wood alcohol.

The destructive distillation of wood produces inammable gases, astrongly acid idistillate, and a certam quantity of tar." The aqueousdistillate contains methyl alcohol, acetic acid, acetone and methylacetate, the distillate being known as pyroligneous acid. The tar andpyroligneous acid are drawn oli' and neutralized with lime, thusseparating therefrom the acetic acid.

By the -usual process, 'the pyroligneous acid with as little tar aspossible is drawn off from the crude distillate obtained from the woodretort and is cleared from tar as far as possible by subsidence. To thesuper-A natant liquor which contains a little tar and the crude aceticacid, alcohol, 'acetone and methyl acetate is added lime for the purposeAof neutralizing the acetica'cid and convertspirit is distilled o'fromthe solution containing the impure acetate and the tarry substance. Ihave therefore not shown'kin the drawings any apparatus for thejcondt-lsation of the vapor from the wood retorts,

nor have I shown any apparatus for the separation of tar, or. for theseparation'tgf acetic acid.

In the drawings A designates retort' furnaces having the usualconstruction otthpse designed for destructive distillation. From theseretort furnaces A the gas, the acid distillate and the tar are carrledto con densers (not illustrated inthe drawing). The tar and pyroligneousacid are allowed to stand and separate in suitable vesseils,` j whichare not illustrated, however, as being` no part of my invention, and thepyroligneous acid is then neutralized with lime by any suitableapparatus .and is then, by means.

of pipes which it is unnecessary to illustrate, conveyed tostorage'tanks 3 from which the liquid is conve ed to the stills 2 b yconducting pipes 3. It is 'in these stills 2.an'd vthe means wherebythey are heated and the heat centrelld, that my invention lies- One ofthe stills 2 is illustrated in Figs. ,4, 6 and 7. Each still consists ofa hollow body or casing, the lower portion of which, is formed with aplurality of downwardly extending legs or compartments 10, the ,legsbeing spacedor separated from each other by longitudinally extendingpassages 9 which are open at both ends. It Will be understood that theselegs or compartments 10 `open into the body of the stills 2, 3, thelower portion'V of the still,- or preferably the lower portions of twoconjoined stills, is inclosed within a Wall 2", the rear end of thisWall being spaced from therear end of the still, as

shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The pipes 3 from the storage tanks 3 enter thewallV 3X and pass, each into a-passage 9 between two adjacent legs ofeach still. Each.` pipe is formed into a series of coils 3b extending upto the upper end of the passage 9. The pipe then extends out from therear end of the passage and is carried upward over the top of thestilland then downward into the upper portion of the still, as at 3 (seeFigt/l) This arrangement ofthepipe providesy for preheating the liquidto be distilled Abefore fore not shown in detailg In these condens itsentranceinto the body 'of the still.

Each of the stills 2 is rconnected by apipe or gooseneclri to condensers'5 which may be of any desiredcharacter and which are thereers -thevolatile methyl alcohol, together w ith water, is condensedinto crudewood spirit. This crude wood spirit may be again dis* tilled, andforthis; purpose the crude wood spirit may be placed inthe tanks 6 fromwhich it will pass bythe pipes 6a into the stills '7, from which it iscarried to the condensers 5*. The 'stills 7, are precisely similar Vinconstruction t'o the stills 2, and the pipes 6a each ente'rlone fof thecompartments of the corresponding still, are coiled in thesecompartments and extend up over the compartinentsv as at 6F, preciselyas do 4the pipes 3.'

"As a1 means for heating the stills, the

products -of 'combustion and heating gases romthe retort furnacesWhiclfwould be otherwise vwasted, are conducted from the re torturnacesA tov a transverse flue 12 which extends across theA entire frontof the batteryjof stills and connects the retort furfof combustib@ fromthe steam V'boli er furmeyals be' utiliz-,effi for heating the f stills.The heated products of combustion from the retort furnaces and from thesteam boiler` furnace are conducted into the Hue 12 and from thenceconducted between the legs of the several stills, the heat passingbeneath the bottoms of the stills and around the ends and'sides thereof.The products of combustion the-nce pass into .flues- 13 which lead to astack .1.4i 'from'which the products of com` vbustion are dischargedafter they have yielded a large portion of their heat. It will be seenthat by this arrangement the combined heat of the retort furnaces and ofthe steam boiler furnace passes beneath the bottoms of the stills, andaround the ends and sides thereof and that thus a very large superficialarea of still is subjected to this heat, .and that the heat which wouldbe ordinarily Wasted and discharged Without doing its full work, is madeto do service in heating the stills for the final distillation. Thetransverse 'flue 12 is also connected to the stack 14 by means of an'intermediate flue 18. In order to control or regulate. the passage ofhot products of combustion through and around the legs of the stills, Iprovide dampers 15 having the form of gates or shutters and located atthe openings of the passages l0. VThese dempers when turned in onedirection will prevent the passage of heated air into the spaces betweenthe legs of the flue l2 into convenient` position for actua-v tion,these handles being connected each to a plurality of dempers.

These dempers and operating levers are very simply 'shown in the drawingfor the reason that any form of dempers may be used for this purpose, as'will be understood by those skilled in the art.

In addition to the dampers l5 which control the passage of Vheat betweenthe legsv of the still, I have also provided a three'- way damper 17Aarranged in the flue 12 at the junction of said flue with the lue 18.This damper has the form of two vanes at right angles toeach other andmay be rotated in a complete circle and thus turned 'so as to close ottthe liue 18, leaving the transverse flue entirely open from end to end,or may be shifted to Aclose oli one end of the transverse flue, leavingthe other .end

of the flue 12 connected to the flue 18, or this damper maybe" so turnedthat-'both ends of the *flue 12, are in communication with each otherand also with the, flue 18.

' .'t'jthe, goosenecks 4' both of said'sets of stills may be closed soYf thatA theheat may freely pass', along the flue 12 and so directly outthrough the Hue v18 to the stack.

In' addition to the features above described, I have provided meanswhereby the liquid inthe still is heated by steam'pipes which extendinto the compartment-s 10. For this purpose I provide the steam boilers5 .of an usual ,or ordinary construction. Conducting pipes 19 pass fromthese steam boilers and connect with a transversely extending pipe 20which as shown is located l above the lue 12.` This pipe 20 has'extending through it the branch pipes 21. -There is one of these branchpipes for each of the 20 compartments or legs of the still. The pipesA21 extend downward from the pipe .20 and enter the legs of the still,and within thesel vlegs are each formed a coil extendinglongiv.tudinally through theinterio'r of the legs, 25 the extremity ofthe coil being conducted out of the leg and carried back to the boilerby the return pipes 22 and 23, as clearly shown in dotted lines in 4l`ig.4f and in full 'lines in Fig. '6.

It will thus be seen that the still is heated I. v. Q'In thepractical'opelation of my inventionl 'ithe ,liquid thejtanks 3 isconducted by the v .ipes `3] into the' coils 3b Whereitfius preeatedbyheatentering the casing-Qtfrom 45.jtheilue-12. Alfter. beingypreheated theiiiquid inthe'pipe's 3 a'n'd3"A is conducted upl and.dischargedinto the upper end of the main body/,of the still-2. [Hereitv is heated by the j- '.gsteam pipes y 21 which pass through the legs,

andby'the heat o f the'pi'oducts of combustion pipes passin from theretort furnaces 'andthe-'boiler urnace between the legs, T The vaporfrom the steam passes'oll lthrough and is carried to the con- 5denserslx L .i v hot products of combustion fronrthe retort furnacesAare carriedinto the trans- "verse, ilue 12.v From ,this flue they-maybe @directed-either between the legs of the still and through theinterior of. the casing 2` and thence'by way of the flue 13 to thestack,`

or by shutting olf thedampers 15 the products of combustion may becarried to the,

`Hue 18 and vpass directly outward tothe stack. Byl operating the damper17 it is not'only by the passage of theheat products The steamitself'does not` possible to cut olf either pair of the stills and `takethe heat entirely from one of the retort furnaces and passit'around oneof the. pairs of stills and not around the other, or the flue 18maybeentirely cut oand every Vparticle of the heat passing from the retortfurnaces, or thesteam furnaces may be car- A.ried into the casing 2.*through and around the legs of the still. In order to cut off heatpassing out through the flue 11 or to regu-- .late the passage of theheated products' therethrough, 1 provide the damper 25 which, as shownin Fig. 5,`is located at the junction of. the fiue 11 with the flue 12and which is operated in any suitable manner.

It'isto be understood that -my invention' is not` limited to .anyparticular number of stills or to otherimmaterial features disclosed inthe drawings, or to lany particular size or proportion of `arts, andthat various changes might be ma e in the details of construction andthe arrangement of these parts without departing from the spirit of theinlvention. s.

-While I have described'my improved still as being used in connectionwith a plant for Athe destructive distillation of Wood, I wish itunderstood that the improved still andthe means for heatin the/same maybe used /forthe distillation 0% any product.

Having thus described the invention, what I c laimis 1. In napparatus ofthel character de-i scribed, a still provided in its lowerj p'ortionwith a plurality of'transversely' ex-A tending passages,.s`aid passagesdividingl the lower portion ofthestilll in to aseries of dep'endmgcompartmenta'f-steam pipes enteringthe several compartments eX- f1 itending through the same, andmeans for' 195.

carrying" heat'in'dependently of: the stea-'m pipes. into the passagesbetweenv said .com-4 partments.

2. In apparatus scribed, 'a' stlll with a series o transverselyextending passages, said vpassages, dividing the lower portionofthestill into a series of `depending "of characterf'de# compartments,steam' pi es entering thesecompartments and coile therein and then"passing out of the compartments, .a furnace,andjmeans for conducting theprodyuctsfof'scombustion from vthe furnace intov thepassag'es betweenthe compartments beneath the'still.` v

3. .Iny apparatus of the character decri-bed, a Y still. provided in itslower portion with a' seri'esfof'open-'ended passages, said passagesdividing the lower portion of the -still into afiserlies` ofAcompartments, afurnace, means for conducting a `heating medium into thevpassages between the 1 comprovi'd'ed in its lowerl portion 4 partments,and a liquid supply pipe lead` ing linto said still, said supply pipeenter-- ing one of said passages' in the bottom of the first named flueeither into the sti the still, being coiledtherein,v and thenfbef` ingextended into the still, whereby the liquid therein may be, pre-heated.y

4. In apparatus of the character described, a still, a casingsurroundingL the still, a furnace,a stack, a flue leading, from thefurnace to the stack and communlcating with the casing of the still,me'ans for cuttin olf communication between said iue an the interiorofthe casing, and a flue leading from the casing to the stack.

5. In apparatus of the character described, a plurality of stills,casings inclosing the stills, a furnace, a Hue extending entirely acrossthe fronts of the still casings and communicating with the urnace astack with which said flue is connected, flues leading from the rearends of the still casings to said stack, and means for diverting theproducts of combustion passing into p l cas-j ings or into the stack. y

6. In apparatus of the character dev scribed, two batteries of stills,each batteryl being surrounded by a casing, a furnace, a transverse fluecommunicating with the furnace and vextending entirely across the frontsof the still casings, said transverse flue communicating with thecasings,means whereby the communication may be cut oi between thetransverse flue and thecasings, iues leading from-the rear ends of thestill casings to a commondischarge stack, and a middle dischargefluem'extending between the pairs of still dcasings, connected at oneend to the middle of the transverse iue and at ythe other connected tosaid stack, and.

valves' in the transverse flue whereby the products of combustion fromthe furnace maybe shut ofi' from. the intermediate Hue orfrom either end'of the `transverse flue.

In testimony whereof I aftiix-my signature in presence'of twowitnesses.-

ROBERT w. HILTON. [ala] Witnesses: *i

J. CLAYTON BAcnUs, F. H. HUNGIvlLLE.

Copies of, this patent mayv be obtained for v-e dents each, byaddressingV the Commissioner of Patents,

' yWashington, D. C. i

